“It seems to be an innate behaviour in our DNA. It occurs across most societies, so it may not be so different in an online context.”

The survey also revealed that the successful couples (aka. those who had been dating for a year or longer) had an average age difference of three years between them, while 80 per cent had obtained the same level of education as their partner.

Most shared 34 text messages before exchanging phone numbers and on average, each couple matched with 84 people prior to meeting “the one.”